Shakeel Ahmed attacks Rajnath over Modi visa issue

Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed on Sunday sought to ridicule BJP president Rajnath Singh, over the issue of a US visa for Narendra Modi.

"I'm in Canada, near USA. Rajnath Singhji should have been informed that in USA guardians are allowed to apply for visa only for minors," Ahmed said on microblogging site Twitter.

Singh had said last week that he would take up the visa issue with the US lawmakers in Washington and "will appeal to the US government to clear the US visa for the Gujarat chief minister".

However, responding to attack by Congress over the party's chief's comment, BJP had later made it clear that Singh had not pleaded with the Obama administration for a visa for Modi, and neither has the Gujarat chief minister applied for one.

The US has said that if the Gujarat chief minister applies for a visa, his application will be considered like any other case.

Ahmed had yesterday also taken a pot shot at BJP over the visa row.

Ahmed, who was in London yesterday on a personal visit, had said on Twitter that the BJP can now appeal to US probe agency FBI, to investigate the matter relating to a letter by MPs to President Barack Obama against granting visa to Modi.

Ahmad's comment on the letter purportedly written by 65 MPs asking the US administration not to change its policy in denying visa to the Gujarat chief minister had come even as the party has refrained from either endorsing or condemning the move, saying it is for the signatories to respond.

Some MPs, including CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, whose signatures have been found on the lette, have already denied their role in it.